Just a small update/note of what Marketing Channel I’m currently running.
-This beautiful Blog, gamemanifest.wordpress.com
-Twitter which still represents The Sha Man Game but soon will change to the new Project. https://twitter.com/TheShaManGame
-Youtube Channel, I will run my own, because I think it can be a very powerful tool. I still have to create the Channel Intro Video. http://www.youtube.com/user/Shmaitotem -The Facebook Page I share public as soon I reveal the name of my new app/game.
I don’t have a Development Team Name or Logo!
Right now I do my games without any reference to the developer, me. I have no brand, logo or visual representation that could stick in the mind of people. That’s pretty alternative and maybe also dumb. Even due it appears very egocentric I thought about labeling my games simply with my name in the beginning. „DAVID ZOBRIST PROUDLY PRESENTS..“
Since today and until the first days of 2014 I run a small banner Advertising for The Sha Man, I invested 100 Dollar and I’m already looking forward to what will be the result out of this investment. I do not really understand how CPA and CPC work, even after I checked the definitions on wikipedia( I read rough), here the copied answeres in short form:
CPA (Cost per Action)
CPA = Cost to obtain a conversion
CPC (Cost per Click)
CPC = what you pay to get a click on your ad
Update 27.12.2013 So the campaign does not really seem to run well, I guess it has to do with the CPA to CPC setup I created. But the good thing is the money is not spend until the target actually is achieved. So I will just change the parameters if there is no big change until next year. (1.1.2014).
Update 30.12.2013 Still no big changes..
Update 13.01.2014 No real result on downloads or general attention towards „The Sha Man“, conclusion is fuck that shit.
iAd doesn’t work for me.
My cat game makes nice progress, even due I spend a lot of time on social media spreading the word about my game and my blog. This unfortunately also leads to a lot of tapping on random time wasters. Channeling the own focus mainly on what has to be done requires a lot of self discipline.
As I write this I’m sitting in the train from Berlin Germany to Zurich Switzerland my home. In my cabin is sitting a girl, using the same macbook air model as mine, both MacBooks are placed on this small table in the middle of the cabin, that looks pretty important and fancy. So using this adjectives let’s have a look at my newest game project.
Chapter 1: My stolen love
Each chapter of the game will be a separate screen with a narrative title and a lightly animated background, from here you have access to the 4 levels which each chapter contains.
Narrative wise the first chapter is all about chasing behind the evil granny which has stolen the boyfriend of the female cat hero. Gameplay wise the player will learn the basic game mechanics and get the first additionally spells within this chapter, rounded up by a boss fight at the end of it.
So far I plan to kick off the game with 3 chapters, resulting in 12 levels. I will create a certain play duration for the game by having the difficulty rising dramaticaly from the second half of chapter 2 upwards. Leaving the player with levels he has to try multiple times over and over again to complete them. I also plan to patch new chapters to the game, over a time span of at least 3 months, which will be additional 3 chapters, resulting in total 6 chapters and 24 levels. Patching content after release has a few benefits, the community will be able to identify more strongly with the game because its still growing and developing, each time a game gets patched the game rises up in search engines and you can feed your created marketing channels with updates and news which will keep them alive and hopefully expanding.
Battle gameplay foundation
The gameplay is design wise similar as in my first game #TheShaMan. But this time there will be 2 modes the player can switch between during battle.
The regenerative and offensive mode, depending on the acive mode the available spells will change, the player will need to switch between them to be successful. Additionally there is a new energy system, the player builds up 1 energy for each standard attack (claw bash) all other spells cost energy. My goal is to make the spells really empowering and the choices as meaningful as possible.
Here some first footage of the shop system I will use in my next game and the mushroom dealer Terrence!
Update 13.12.13 I removed the character Terrence out of the shop, I decided to keep the game style simplistic, the character just made the scene to wild.
This cat will appear cute on the first look but quickly she will turn into a bad ass shaman. As you progress with the game you will get powerful suits to push your Attack and Health up. Here are the first 2 Item Sets which you will be able to purchase for Mushrooms gained in battle. Im still try to figure out what the metaphor for the shop will be, something like a jungle dress store?
Look at me! How powerful I am!
There will be 10 sets in total, my challenge is now to make each of them look cooler then the previous ones.
And will try to push this the limit!
Update: 11.12.13
I will gonna list all sets as I finish them below each other as part of this post. Except the last 3 Sets which I want to keep secret. This costume goes more into direction „girly“, the plan is to also target them as Audience, so I have to limit my dominant nerdy male energy to get some cute stuff done.
Shaman Games
All my games are influenced by shamanism which fascinates me.
I see direct connections between shamans and artists, which both have the self commited mission to dive into the deep hidden realms within us and bring something back into the material world in form of a paintings, psychological insides, music, movies or video games.
A tool to reach the very depths of our own minds and its hidden chambers is the usage of psychodelics.
To show where this post is heading to lets quickly look at the word Psychedelic.
The term „psychedelic“ is derived from the Ancient Greek words psuchē (ψυχή – psyche, „mind“) and dēlōsē (δήλωση – „manifest“), translating to „mind-manifesting“.
In some way you could say anything that the human mind has produced is psychedelic, it was taken out of the imaginary spaces and with the rational problem solving mind as tool we manifested the dream object into this dimension.
I do not judge if the external manipulation through substances is good or bad here and instead write down some good sources for inspiration if you are interested in what some of this psychonauts brought back to us.
Terrence McKenna
I’m heavily listening to Terrence McKenna on YouTube, which was a psychonaut or modern shaman. Which means he researched altered states through the consummation of psychedelics, such as Psilocybin through Magic Mushrooms and DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) through oral ingestion in form of Ayahuasca(8 hours duration), or stronger in effect and short in duration (max. 15 minutes) by smoking it.
He talked heavily about the human conditioning and evolution and had his own theory to the humans rise of intelligence due the consume of magic mushrooms, within times where we as a species had to adapt to new environmental conditions.
A very great mind, a source of inspiration and research for my next title. You can find plenty of his videos.
But this one has some nice lines of him in one shot.
Jason Silva A young futurist, with a great energy which brings the word psychedelic into context to technology.
He has a small sum of powerful videos in his youtube channel „Shots of Awe“. Also got his own show now on National Geographics called Brain Games.
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First In-Game Results coming out of my Research
So here are some direct results out of their influence. I will add some of the psychedelics into my game as consumables and spells.
Setting of the Game
My Main Character will be a shaman as in the previous game but this time in form of a cute cat to bring some contrast into it.
Super Mario Mushroom
The In-game currency to buy new clothes which will make you stronger, is the Amanita Muscaria.
Which was used by berserkers before they went to war to boost them self and bring them into a reckless state.
The Shaman Cat also wears a small bundle of these mushrooms, the idea behind is that she eats them as source of her magical power. You may realize that this was also the one mushroom used in Super Mario which made you bigger. One of the listed experiences tripping on this mushroom type is that your osberved proportions change, everything around you becomes smaller. Due its beautiful appearance it was also the one mind-altering Mushroom that got the most attention in fairy tale stories. How ever, this mushroom counts more as an deliriant than a psychedelic and has high potential to intoxicate you, and is not recommendable for real life usage.
For a unexplainable reason digital cartoon cats will not take any harm from them.
Upcoming Magic Spell The Jungle brew Ayahuasca, which contains DMT and sends you through a near death experience where you might face your inner demons, to come back as lighter personality.
This is the number one psychedelic associated with shamanism in the rainforest and will be added as next Spell into the game, the spell will create a pot in front of the cat and deliver magical energy over a time period.
Here’s a Video post mortem of „The Sha Man“ with a quick look into the game salad version of it. It was the first time I did a spoken video so I was kind of nervous. Don’t Judge me!
I do it for the cats
Since we all know cats made us develop the internet so they can push their egos by making us spread videos of them online, I want to jump on this Trend, since it just doesn’t seem to stop..
A shamanistic Cat
Here a first Screenshot of my most recent project. Going into direction „cute“ combined with a touch of magic and action, thats the goal for my next creation. The female hero will be a cute cat, whose boyfriend get’s stolen by an evil Grandma. The cat will make herself on the way to save her love…
So I officially stopped investing time in promoting The Sha Man(iTunes) and see it as a first step which I had good learnings off.
It will stay in the Developer Portfolio in iTunes. So when ever I create a Success It will benefit from that and maybe get some Attention too.
The new project Here a list of what I will do different and what I will do the same.
What I will do again:
I will be using Gamesalad to develop the Game and take 3-4 months developing time.
I will do my own Graphics, Sounds and Music and the same Core Gameplay again.
Marketing wise I will create a Twitter, Facebook Page and contact Youtubers for Gameplay Videos since I see them as an existential minimum if you want to be successful in the online world.
What I will do differently: The Game will have a clear understandable level by level Progression Layer not as detached from each other as I had it with The Sha Man. As a new addition the Game will have a simple Narrative structure to give Player additional Motivation/Reasoning to progress. Overall I will go for a less „nerdy“ Game Setting and go a little bit more into the girly direction. I will change from full Price Game to In-app purchase model including an In-game Currency.
The end of the game will be left open for more Content, so I can patch new Content and over longer time create a News stream which I can push through Marketing Channels.
The next Game will get a real website,a one Page Website for the Game, like a business card with all links (iTunes, Blog and Social Media) this enables to practice search Engine Optimizations.
My Girlfriend has taken over a lot of PR Work and has created lists with cooperative press Partners. And another list where you can get cheap paid Reviews. We will send Promo Codes and Information to the press 2-3 Weeks before Release this Time. Additional I got a Tip of a Gamesalad Community Guy which suggested prMac for Marketing which I also will use.
David Zobrist 